


Riott Incorporated: The Case of the Smackdown Bandit

by RelentlassHuggerSquad



Series: Riott Inc. Mysteries [3]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Gen, Riott Squad mysteries, wrestling parody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 17:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17729384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RelentlassHuggerSquad/pseuds/RelentlassHuggerSquad
Summary: The Riott Squad are summoned to Smackdown after their successful string of cases. They are about to face their toughest challenge yet when they have to solve who is stealing random things from the Smackdown Roster.





	Riott Incorporated: The Case of the Smackdown Bandit

“I really don’t see why we’re at a Smackdown live event on our day off.” Sarah Logan was not pleased, it wasn’t like as a WWE superstar she got many days off. She didn’t want to waste the one day off she had, not being near her new husband Rowe. They hadn’t gotten that long of a honeymoon, because as soon as they had gotten married it was right back to work for them both. 

Liv rolled her eyes and tugged on Sarah’s hand, brushing her thumb over the taller girl’s knuckles. “We’re here because Sonya and Mandy texted us. They need our help, they said that Smackdown is being haunted.” She said imploring her friend into action. 

Sarah huffed but already knew that by the puppy dog face Liv was giving her, that it was pointless to resist. “Fine, I’ll stay and help. But I still think this is a waste of my day off.” 

Ruby Riott who up to this point had been unusually quiet, merely shrugged. “We’ll look around for a little bit, see if we can figure out what the problem is and then try to salvage the rest of our off day.” The leader of the Riott Squad suggested, figuring this compromise was the best option.

It took the trio a bit of time, but they finally managed to locate the pair of Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. Liv, as usual, made her presence felt by immediately jumping on Sonya and clinging to her tightly. Sonya merely laughed and patted the top of Liv’s head. 

“I am glad you ladies are here, things have been getting kind of freaky,” Sony admitted, shaking Ruby and Sarah’s hands in way of greeting. 

“Tell us what is going on,” Liv said, still holding onto Sonya, hugging her close. It was Liv’s way of showing affectionate, she was clingy to everybody she cared about. 

Sony shifted uncomfortably and shared a look with Mandy, having a silent conversation. Finally, it was Mandy who took the lead, deciding to start from the beginning. 

“It was little things at first, bags being moved around the room, things disappearing. At first, we thought it was another one of the girls, but then their stuff started getting taken. Then it started happening to the guys too.” Mandy explained, her eyes widening as the story continued on. 

Sonya nodded her agreement with what Mandy was saying. “The boys called a locker room meeting, telling the thief that whoever started it, needed to quit and return the stuff.” Sonya swallowed hard, visibly upset by the story. “Then they started messing with the titles, unscrewing the nameplates and taking them. It’s getting bad back here on Smackdown because Triple H and Vince are angry. “

 

Ruby had been listening to the story, trying to see if they were ribbing her or lying, but the two women seemed genuinely scared. “Okay, but why did you call us?” 

Mandy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Because we heard about what you did for Foxy and for Bayley. You don’t even like them but you helped them, so I was hoping you’d be willing to help us out on Smackdown solve this issue.”

“Preferably before the roster gets in more trouble with Vince and Triple H. You made your debut on the Smackdown brand, please help us?” Sonya wasn’t the type of women to beg, but she’d do it if she had too. She knew if anybody could figure out what was actually going on, it would be the Riott Squad.

Ruby hesitated, but then gave in. “Alright, we will see if we can find anything. You said some of your stuff was going missing?” 

Sonya nodded her head. “Phones are being taken, which is a liability if you’re in our business. You know how people like to leak personal photos.” Sonya was clearly thinking about Paige as she spoke. 

Liv frowned and finally let go of Sonya. “Don’t worry, we’re on the case.” She promised, before nudging Sarah and Ruby. “We should go investigate and maybe interview some of the other superstars on Smackdown.” 

Sarah grunted, still angry about losing her day off to help Smackdown but willing to do it for her friends. “We should start with the women’s locker room. Maybe Charlotte, Becky or the IIconics have seen something. If they’re stealing title plates off of the belts, we may need to speak to Asuka as well.” 

“That’s actually a good idea Sarah.” Ruby compliment, as the group made their way over towards the women’s locker room, where they saw Carmella talking with R-Truth. 

“Hey Mella, hey Truth, have you guys seen anything weird going on lately?” Liv asked, staring expectantly at them. 

Truth exchanged a confused glance with Carmella before looking at the Riott Squad. “Like weird how like aliens? I’ve seen an alien space ship before.” 

Ruby just stared the man down, unsure if he was joking or not. “Well we’ve been hearing some stuff about weird things happening and we came to investigate it,” Ruby explained slowly. 

R-Truth grinned widely them. “Wow, you guys must be like paranormal ghost hunters. When did you start doing that?” He asked. 

Carmella placed a hand on his shoulder and turned to face the Riott Squad. “There have been some weird things going on, but nobody can seem to pinpoint who is doing it. Is that why you three are here? To figure out what is going on.”

“Yeah, actually that is why we’re here. Sonya and Mandy called us, we had solved a few cases over on Raw and they thought we could probably figure out the issues on Smackdown.” Sarah explained before she frowned. “Though I wish it could have been on a different day.” 

Carmella gave her a sympathetic look, she knew how hard it was to be away from family and the ones that she loved most. It was part of the reason her and Big Cass hadn’t worked out, all the time apart made it hard to keep a relationship. 

“Well, I am sure the roster appreciates you coming down to help.” R-Truth gave them a friendly smile. “Good luck and if you see little Jimmy, tell him I’m looking for him.”

Sarah glanced to Ruby, giving her a questioning look, but the leader of the Riott Squad didn’t have any answers when it came to R-Truth. 

Once they were inside the women’s locker room, the Squad found themselves face to face with an irritated Empress of Tomorrow. 

“Have you seen my mask?” Asuka demanded, the angry woman getting right up in Liv’s face.

Liv shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I am sorry, we just got here. We’re trying to figure out who is taking everybody’s stuff.” 

Asuka didn’t look like she believed Liv, her gaze searching before she finally took a step back. “I got an email from the office, it said I needed to go to see Talent Relations when I came back my mask was gone.” 

Sarah frowned and tilted her head. “What did Talent Relations want from you?” She asked curiously, knowing Asuka wasn’t the type to get in trouble. 

Asuka shrugged her shoulders. “They say they didn’t send me the email.” 

“So somebody faked an email to get you out of the locker room so that they could steal your mask. That is really strange, do you mind if I look at the email?” Ruby asked, trying to figure out who would dare to try and steal from Asuka. The Empress gave some pretty stiff kicks when she wanted too.

“Go ahead.” Asuka handed her phone over to Ruby, letting the tattooed woman look at the email. 

“Hmm, this isn’t an official WWE email, so it could have been forged,” Ruby stated after a moment, handing the phone back to Asuka. 

Liv frowned, trying to think of who could interview next. “I say we talk to Daniel Bryan. Daniel might know who to interview next, I mean he is the champion and one of the locker room leaders.” 

Rubbing the back of her neck, Sarah Logan groaned a little. “I have a bad feeling about this. It’s not like we’re going to stumble on who’s been stealing from the locker room and even if we did, they might not appreciate being found out.” Sarah pointed out, watching as a scared look entered Liv’s eyes. 

“Hey I am here to solve a mystery not get hurt again, my leg still hurts from Nikki Cross trying to stab me. Besides we’re not even getting paid this time, so I am not about to put myself in danger.” Liv replied as she thought about what Sarah was saying. The blonde didn’t consider herself a wuss, but she didn’t put herself in unnecessary danger,

Sarah was starting to see that maybe if she swayed Liv to her side, they could outvote Ruby and possibly get out of having to deal with whatever was happening at Smackdown. “Besides if we go talk to Daniel, Brie might be there. Do you really wanna have to deal with Brie, I know you forgave her knocking you out but it would be awkward…”

Ruby glared at Sarah and wrapped her arms around Liv who had jumped into her arms, giving the blonde a comforting hug. “Stop trying to scare Liv. You know it freaks her out when somebody brings up Brie. We’re going to talk to Daniel and if Brie is there then I’ll protect you Liv, but we’re going. End of discussion.” Ruby warned, putting her foot down.

It was a rare occurrence when the Squad wasn’t on the same page, but Ruby was the oldest and the most veteran performer. She didn’t often play the leader card, but she would if she had too. She engaged in a staredown with the Viking, but eventually, Sarah folded and submitted to Ruby’s leadership. 

Seeing Sarah kind of deflate and retreat back inside of herself, Ruby frowned and wrapped an arm around her friend. “I am sorry, I think it’s important that we solve this case. I didn’t mean to snap at you, when we finish this I’ll pay for you and Rowe to have a nice dinner.” 

Sarah nodded and pressed her forehead against Ruby’s, returning the hug and sort of squishing Liv in the middle of their group. “It wasn’t cool of me to play against Liv’s fear. We are family, we need to look out for each other. All for one and one for all.” 

Liv hugged them both and then wiggled out of the group hug. “I love you all, but let’s just get a move on. Your love is suffocating me.” Liv joked, glad that the taller women were done arguing. Liv hated when they all fought, she liked the family she had found with Ruby and Sarah, she didn’t want anything getting in the way. 

They eventually found Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles and a couple of the other guys, sitting in catering and playing cards. They all looked busy and Ruby didn’t really want to interrupt them. Respect was a big thing in the industry and she respected the boys a lot, especially Daniel because he had gone the indy route just like she had. 

Ruby cleared her throat and tapped on his shoulder. “I am really sorry for bothering you Daniel, but Mandy and Sonya invited us here to help solve the mystery of the locker room thief. Do you know anything or have any suspicions on who it might be?” 

Daniel gave her a polite smile and excused himself from the game. “I honestly don’t know much. When the custom plates were stolen off my belt, I was in a meeting. I had gotten an email and when I came back, the plates were unscrewed from the belt.” 

“Didn’t Asuka say that she got an email too before her stuff was stolen?” Sarah inquired, trying to piece together what was going on. 

Liv pursed her lips and gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Could be a coincidence.” 

Ruby shook her head. “I don’t believe in those. Thanks for the info Daniel, it was actually helpful.” 

Daniel looked a little sheepish and laughed. “Glad I could help though I am not sure I actually did much.” 

“It was enough though, tell Brie we said hi,” Liv said giving him a knowing look, before skipping out of catering with Ruby and Sarah following close behind. 

“Tell your wife we said hi? Really Liv, really?” Sarah questioned, shaking her head at Liv’s antics. 

Liv smirked a little bit. “She kicked me in the face if she can’t laugh at a joke she’s in the wrong business. Plus I was trying to be nice by telling him to tell her hi.” 

Ruby rolled her eyes and lightly tapped Liv upside the back of the head. “Focus you two. We need to stay on task.” Ruby sometimes felt like a cat wrangler when it came to her friends and trying to keep them focused.

 

Sarah grunted and folded her arms over her chest. “Okay, so what are we going to do now? What is the game plan?”

“Well there have been a lot of mysterious emails, so maybe we should go talk to Talent Relations and point it out,” Ruby explained, looking around for the sign that would tell them what room the Talent Relations people were in. 

Liv was doing her best to pay attention, that quickly failed when she saw Zelina looking somewhat distraught down the hall. “Hey, I’ll be right back,” Liv called over her shoulder, walking over to the woman. “Hey, you okay Z?”

Zelina frowned and shook her head. “I was changing in the locker room earlier and I got a mysterious message, so I went to check it out and when I return not only was my gear gone but so was my wedding ring.” The woman cried, sobbing openly now. 

Liv blinked in surprise at the emotion, gently and awkwardly patting at Zelina’s back. She shot a look over her shoulder to the rest of the squad, silently pleading with them for help. 

“You said somebody took your wedding ring and your gear after you got an email?” Sarah asked as she walked up behind Liv. The very notion that somebody would go as low as taking somebody’s wedding ring, rubbed Sarah the wrong way. 

Sniffling a little bit, Zelina nodded. “I had taken off the ring because I was getting ready for my match earlier, now it’s gone. Tom is going to be so hurt.” She said referencing her husband who was still in NXT as Aleister Black. 

Sarah softened a little bit, sympathizing with Zelina’s plight. “Alright, I am personally going to help you. I would be upset if somebody stole my wedding ring. Do you have any idea who might have done it?” 

“No, I just want my stuff back.” Zelina whimpered, feeling a bit defeated. 

Ruby crinkled her nose as a thought occurred to her. “Hey, do you all remember when they had the anonymous GM on raw?” 

The other three nodded, waiting to see where Ruby was going with this. Ruby herself wasn’t even sure, but something was starting to click. 

“It turned out to be Hornswoggle, didn’t he do a thing with you at the Royal Rumble Zelina.” Ruby was starting to think that maybe he could be behind it. He was a smart man and also known backstage for getting crushes on random women. 

Zelina shifted uncomfortably and glanced down at the ground. “He kept calling me cute backstage, I kind of just laughed it off.” She hadn’t known how to react to Hornswoggle, but he hadn’t really left her alone after the match until finally, her husband had come to pick her up.

“We should check under the ring, that’s where he hides isn’t it?” Sarah asked, ready to go to war now that she knew who she was looking for. 

Liv frowned at the idea of having to confront Hornswoggle under the ring. “I’d really rather not have to go under the ring. I don’t like it under there.” Liv said shifting uncomfortably. 

Ruby pinned the blonde with a pointed look. “Would you do it for three blue jolly ranchers?” When Liv shook her head, Ruby sighed. “Okay, how about six blue jolly ranchers?”

Liv smirked a little bit. “Deal, I want half of my payment up front though.” 

Ruby snorted but obliged the blonde, pulling out three of the blue jolly ranchers and handing them over. Due to the nature of their friendship and having to constantly travel together, Ruby had taken to carrying the sweets that Liv liked. 

“Now that we got that sorted, we’re going to need to try and catch him. Sarah, find some netting or rope and wait outside the ring when he comes out tackle him and tie him up. Zelina we need your help to lure him out.” Ruby instructed, before nudging her friends.

Zelina looked hesitant and like she wanted to protest being used as bait. However, with a look down at her bare ring-finger, she nodded. “Okay, let’s get him.” 

“What are we going to do?” Liv asked, looking to Ruby. 

Ruby chuckled softly. “You’re going to hate this part, but you’re going under the ring with Zelina, I am going to be waiting on the ring apron with Sarah.” 

Liv glared at her friend. “Fine, but just for putting me in danger, add two more jolly ranchers.” 

The four women made the trek to the ring, ignoring the weird looks they were getting from the different road agents and staff that were setting up the Smackdown set. Ruby watched with interest as Liv and Zelina reluctantly made their way under the ring. 

Sarah and Ruby stayed perched on the ring apron, waiting for a few moments, before Zelina let out a scream. Zelina scrambled from under the ring, Liv right behind her, except something grabbed Liv by the ankles and started pulling her back. 

“Help me, Rubes!” Liv called, scratching at the ground in front of her. 

Ruby and Sarah both jumped down, each grabbing one of Liv’s arms and tugging her back away from the underside of the ring. It took a moment, but they finally managed to pull Liv all the way out along with Hornswoggle who was still holding onto her ankles. Sarah let go of Liv and tackled him to the ground, pinning him down. 

“Pick on somebody your own size,” Hornswoggle growled, thrashing around and trying to bite Sarah. He sank his teeth into her arm, causing her to release him. Hornswoggle started to try and run away when Zelina rounded the corner and hit him in the back with a steel chair.   
Ruby lept into action and quickly tied him up. “Oh my gosh, what just happened?” She asked, unable to believe what had transpired. 

“He bit me!” Sarah said, holding up her arm to Liv. 

Liv looked squeamish. “Bro you might want to get that checked out, you don’t know where he’s been.” 

“What did you see under the ring?” Ruby asked, looking between Liv and Zelina. 

Zelina just shook her head. “He had a shrine to me, like everything that was missing was under the ring. My ring was on some weird alter thing, it’s creepy.” 

Sarah picked up the tied Hornswoggle. “I’ll take him to Finlay, and let Finlay decide what to do with him. Then can we please get out of here?” 

Ruby gave Sarah a nod. “Yeah, go ahead and do that. I think I need a vacation.” Ruby muttered, clearly disturbed by what was going on. 

Some of the Smackdown superstars had come out when they heard Zelina scream and were all staring confused at the captured Hornswoggle. 

“All of your stuff is under the ring.” Liv explained, lifting up the ring apron so that everybody who had stuff stolen could get it back. 

R-truth walked up beside Liv and Ruby, resting his arms on their shoulders. “I am so glad we could solve this mystery. You guys even found little Jimmy, thank you.” 

Ruby glanced to Carmella who was laughing before she looked to Liv and replied deadpan. “I didn’t even know Little Jimmy was missing.”

**Author's Note:**

> This one was a lot of fun to write because there are a lot of comedic characters on Smackdown. I think the Riott Squad has a lot of comedic ability, so being able to write them doing outlandish things is fun. It's not supposed to be taken seriously, so I hope everybody enjoys it as much as I do.


End file.
